The document discusses several key factors that influence climate: 1) Latitude determines tropical, temperate, and polar climate zones. 2) Pressure systems and winds influence where tropical rainforests and deserts are located. 3) Ocean currents impact regional climates. 4) Distance from the coast (continentality) affects temperature, as land warms and cools faster than oceans.

1. Factors Influencing Climate Summary Latitude. Pressure systems and wind. Ocean currents Distance from the sea (continentality) Altitude.

2. Latitude What is latitude and how does it effect climate? Tropical climate zone. Temperate climate zone. Polar climate zone.

3. Pressure Systems and Wind Where is the tropical rainforest and where are the deserts?

4. Ocean Currents

5. Continentality – Distance from the Coast How does distance from the coast affect temperature? The oceans and the land warm up and cool down at different speeds. Basically the oceans take longer to warm up and longer to cool down. Compare the climate graphs of; Brest in France, Bratislava in Slovakia, Volgograd in Russia.

6. Brest Bratislava Volgograd

7. °C 7.4 8.8 12.1 14.6 15.9 15.8 14.0 11.5 8.8 7.4 6.0 6.2 °C Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan 0.9 4.8 10.4 15.8 19.6 20.3 18.4 15.0 10.4 4.6 0.4 -1.3 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Bratislava Brest -4.9 -0.2 7.5 15.4 22.4 23.8 21.5 16.5 8.5 -2.9 -8.3 -8.2 °C Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Volgograd

8. Altitude How does altitude effect climate and thus vegetation?

9. Climate and Vegetation Ecuador Case Study

10. Ecuador – What would we expect the climate and vegetation to be like?

11. Ecuador – on the equator right underneath the inter-tropical convergence zone

12. This was taken in Ecuador

13. Altitude Altitude is the height above sea level As altitude increases – for example as we go up a mountain – air pressure decreases As a result of these changes temperature also decreases – 2-3 degrees C every 300m Altitude and mountains also affect precipitation (why?) and wind (how?)

14. B A A B

15. Vegetation Changes A B

16. Cotopaxi mountain (5987m), permanent snow and high altitude alpine tundra (4000-5000m) Andean mountain cloud forest (Mindo area 1600 – 2200m Highland scrub (Paramo, 3200-4000m) Inter-Andean agricultural land (Machachi area 2300-3200m) Lowland tropical rainforest e.g. Santo Domingo are or upper Amazon Basin – Rio Napo - (0-1500m) Esmeraldes, coastal tropical mangroves Climate and Vegetation of Ecuador – Andes cross section

17. Cotopaxi (5987m)

35. Research You need one example of a plant and one animal from the desert climate and the same for the tropical rainforest. For each you must describe and explain the main features of the plant/animal and how these are adapted to the climatic conditions. Also, for each climate zone research an indigenous people and explain how they are adapted to the climatic conditions.